OSuzanna

Thanks all , my ticker has been updated..... :lb2: I've lost 29 pounds - yahoo!!!!! :dance3:

I'm still declaring war and I will get my revenge!!!! I will catch up to you!! Seriously, you look great - lots of motivation for me!!!! Thanks!!

When I got my first fill my sister and I hung around and did the Revolucion Ave. thing (again - been there, done that!) for 2 hours and then we hailed a cab to the border and walked across - it took us approx. 30 mins. to get through and that was on a Saturday, so not to bad. I'm going for my second fill next Saturday, my husband is going with me and we plan on driving up (three hours), get my fill, have my teeth zoomed and then we're out of there. I didn't have any problems with the first fill and I don't expect any with the second. I guess I can consider myself one of the lucky ones because I live pretty close and can drive, for those of you that have to fly in, I would say, stick around at least overnight, just in case your "to full". You can always lounge around the Lucerne's pool - Hey, can you get a Margarita at the Lucerna?

:-? Okay, here's my question????? :scratch_one-s_head: What are the rules for our Tickers, are we calculating pounds lost from our "highest weight ever" :lb1: , or our weight at the day of our surgery :girl_sigh: ? Because if I use highest weight ever, which was the start of my pre-op diet weight, then I've lost 29 lbs :good3: . If I use my weight at the day of my surgery, I've only lost 24 lbs :cray: and lets face it a mere 5 pounds to us bandsters is HUGE!

Ooh La La! :cheerleader:

This stinks! Cathy, you (and Denise, too) were banded 3 days before I was and I've only lost 26 lbs! :lb20: This sucks and I am now declaring WAR! I will catch up - mark my words! You are both so motivating - Keep up the good work girls =D> - I'm proud of you!

Very cool Kittycat - it's so neat, because almost everyday we discover something new about ourselves and our bands. It just re-affirms how much we love our bands and how we don't regret having the surgery, not one bit! My port hurts sometimes, but only when I'm lying on my back in bed and our Persian, Princess, jumps on top of and snuggles down on my tummy. Yes, I know, but that was the name she had when we rescued her from “doggy and kitty hell” and we didn't want her to grow up with psychological problems for the rest of her life so we didn't change it. But I got to tell you, it sounds pretty stupid when she escapes once in a while and I'm outside yelling, “Princess, Princess, Princess".

Okay, here we go again with the pooping, farting, burping and barfing - hey, that rhymes! The subject always get some great laughs out of me - I guess that's better than gas - hey, that sort of rhymes too! I'm almost four months post banding and I really think I'm the same in the pooping, farting (farting probably should have been first) and burping mode I was in pre-banding. As far as pbing and sliming, yeah, I've done it a couple of times, but this is up to you to avoid. Small bites and chew, chew, chew. I will ditto what everyone else said, it's well worth the "bodily functions".

NO! NO! NO! You must have nothing but Campbell's Tomatoe soup for the entire creamy soup phase! Just kidding, if you really need cheese, why don't you put a tablespoon of grated low fat cheese into the soup while you cook it, it'll melt and there you have it! I liked cheez whiz too, we used to put it on those big hard bavarian pretzels. But I agree, it's nothing but chemicals - no value. It's okay, just let go...... you can do it!!! p.s. I got married in San Fernando, California at my husband's church, I was eighteen years old (for only twelve days) and on August 12th we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. Not Maui, but good all the same.

Second fill :lb17: for me on the 13th - going it alone this time - kind of bummed not to have my best buddy, my sister with me :lb18: . She was with me for the surgery and for my first fill - so I'm really gonna miss her. :cray: Please wish me a MAAAAVOLOUS fill!

Hey, I like this game! :cheerleader: I've lost 5 Chihuahuas and a Guinea Pig :good2: , but I still need to lose 2 average two year olds and an ostrich egg! :negative: Thanks Kittycat for coming up with the game and thanks Mamamichelle for the list. =D> FUN! p.s. Not being a very good bandster this weekend and if I don't start behaving by the time it's over I'll have gained a dozen Krispy Kreme glazed donuts and a rack of baby back ribs!

No sweating for me either, just hot flashes like fat2nrml - let me tell you, they suck! I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm hot, I'm cold, etc. etc. The only good thing about menopause is no more periods - Yeah!!!!! p.s. I do fart a lot - is that normal? p.p.s What is pbing? JK Have a great long weekend everyone!

:lb17: I got my first fill on August 9th and just in the last day or two I'm really starting to feel some restriction - I got 2.2 cc in my 10 cc band. I'm going for my second fill September 13th - exactly three months since surgery and I'm hoping for another 2.2 cc at least! :lb17: Ain't it grand!!! :good2:

Yeah, I'm very happy for you! Hope you get great restriction with this fill - you deserve it!!!!

Wow, lucky you Cathy - 4 ccs for your first fill? I got 2.2 and I'm not feeling a thing; I got the fill August 9th so this is my second week and I was kind of hoping it would "kick in". Anyway, I'm happy for you - hope my next one will be another 2.2 ccs, that would make me happy. I think maybe the size of the band has to do with your stomach, because I'm not a big person - I'm 5' 4" and right now I weigh 183. I would not say I'm big boned, I'm probably medium. You know it's silly, but it bugs me that I had to have the bigger band - it's like when we used to eat a huge plate of food and then later tell everybody, "I only had a little bit". I want to tell everybody, "Oh, I only have the 4 cc band (therefore I'm not a big person)". I'm really tired of "big"! Oh well.

It makes me laugh when I read about slimming and PBing because before we were all banded, we would have been grossed out by such talk, but because it's so commonplace with us "bandsters", it's like no big deal!

It makes me tired just reading what you all did and where you all went after yoiur surgery. Wow, I'm impressed - reading your post, I can tell you will be a success story!

Hi All, Here's my experience............. I was born in Holland 54 years ago and at that time, a birth certificate was not issued. What happened was when someone had a child, they took their "marriage book" (marriage license) to the government house where they entered in your child's name and date of birth in the book and then stamped it with a government seal - that basically was your 'birth certificate". There were three of us kids born in Holland and three born here in the states. Us older three don't have birth certificates; the younger three do have them. In 1963 on the exact same day President Kennedy was shot (I'm giving a history lesson here), my Parent's became citizens of the United States and by virtue of them becoming citizens, us three older (under age) children also became citizens. I'm telling you this because when you get a passport you need to provide a copy of your birth certificate, or citizenship papers, which is why I thought I should bring enough paper work with me to Mexico to basically prove who I was. The first time I went into Mexico for my actual surgery, I had... 1. My Driver's License 2. My Parent's Citizenship papers 3. My Marriage License/Certificate 4. My Green Card - It has a picture of me when I was two years old on it 5. An expired Passport from when I was sixteen. When we left Mexico, I showed the Clerk all of my paperwork and he said to me, "Why are you showing me all this stuff, your Driver's license and the expired passport is all I need". Which I have to tell you, I think is really weird - my passport has my maiden name and the picture in it, well let's just say at 54 years old now, I look nothing like that 16 year old (gosh, I was pretty and PETITE!), what happened??????? When I went to Mexico to get my fill on the 9th of August, I completely forgot to bring any documentation at all; I had my driver's license - that's it! The Clerk gave me a bit of a hard time for not having a birth certificate or a passport, but he finally let me through (after I asked him if I should go back!). I am in the process of getting a new passport so I won't have the stress and problems of being able to prove who I am. Wow, I guess I'm in a talkative mood tonight!

Hi Melissa, Welcome! If you've already done this, ignore by advice, but really, really dig into this forum. You will get so much information from all sorts of different people with different experiences with their band. This forum had a plethora (I LOVE THAT WORD!) of information, experience, guidance, suggestions and most of all tremendous support! You will learn a lot here. The best of luck to you and your husband!

Hi everybody! I just got my first fill a week ago this past Saturday, I got 2.2 ccs and I thought, "Wow, that's a great fill - more than a lot of other Bandsters get". Well the thing is, I found out I have the larger 10 cc band - I lost my little card that tells what kind and what size band you have - so what I thought was a great aggressive fill is just the same approx. fill everyone else is getting. Anyway, the reason I'm posting is it would be very helpful when you all are talking about your fills if you also mention what size band you have. Let's face it, we are all comparing our experiences with others on this forum, so come on, come clean - how big is your band????? Thanks!!!!!

Hope you get a real good fill this time. We'll miss you while your MIA!

Try and make sure you can see the monitor, it's really interesting to watch and that alone will take your mind off of the fill procedure. You'll do fine and start thinking like the rest of us that "it's no big deal"!

I just wanted to let you know, that there will be times when you plateau and it could last a week or it could last a month before you lose one single pound! Don't get discouraged and throw in the towel, because the next day you could drop 2 or 3 pounds! Good luck on your lap band journey!!

I live in Thousand Oaks, CA - we are up over the hill from Malibu and last night we had the most wicked lightning and thunder storms - it was absolutely awesome. It woke me up at midnight because our bedroom kept getting flashed with light; I put a robe on and spent the next hour and a half outside just watching. We just don't get these kind of things, so it was "new". Eventually we got a couple of big fat drops, but no rain to speak of. I love my California weather and the hotter the better for me. My parents live 2 hours away in Palm Springs and I'm there every chance I get. Maybe I'm hoping to sweat the pounds off, LOL!!!!

Paula, I am so excited for you! You totally deserve it!!